16/17 Summer Place North Dublin

[pet50ite]

I wonder if some kind soul would be able to tell me what sort of buidings would be at the above address between the years 1858 to 1885. My Halpin/Conlan branch seem to chop and change between these two addresses for baptisms and marriages during this timespan. At times, there is a baptism of one child at one address followed the next year by another child at the alternate address, only to revert back to the first address the following year. I'm 99.9% certain they are all from the same family but can't understand why they keep swapping addresses.

[gaffy]

Thom's 1852 directory shows 6 - 18 Summer Place to be tenements. It would be far from unknown for a family to extend across two addresses.  As a point of interest, the owner of several addresses in that block, including no. 16, was fined in 1877 for failing to remove a public nuisance - that might give some indication of the prevailing state of repair - not unusual for Dublin tenements of the time.

 

[pet50ite]

Hi gaffy,

Thank you very much for that information. I suspected it was tenements, but as one of the people living there was a blacksmith I thought he would be reasonably well paid. I'd love to know what the "nuisance" was You don't think it could refer to a person?

Pet50ite

[gaffy]

I've known some nuisances in my time! 

But no, fining of landlords / property owners for failure to abate a nuisance was not uncommon around the time your Halpin/Conlan branch lived in Dublin. 

Nuisance covered a wide spectrum of scenarios, but generally something related to sanitation / public health.  For example, one of the stranger cases of Dublin nuisances at that time was tripe being left in a pile (to tenderise) for 5 days in the cellar of a residential property before being cut up for human consumption - needless to say, the local residents complained about the stench.

However, a great many 'ordinary' nuisances simply related to the properties and their environs.  Defective drainage / sewage, yards and paths being soft mud rather than stoned / concreted, deposited rubbish, dangerous staircases, water ingress,  general filth, that sort of thing.  In a few worst cases, properties and alleyways were deemed so unfit for human habitation that the recommendation was to close and knock down.

[pet50ite]

Thank you for the background info. It makes family history come alive when you can see how your ancestors lived.

Pet50ite

[paulbduffy]

My grandfathers brother Michael Woods was married to a Teresa Conlon,she died in 1920.They lived in 26 Summer Place in the 1901 & 1911 census along with her younger sister Elizabeth Conlon. 

[pet50ite]

Hi Paul,
I think Teresa is probably one of my great grandmother's siblings (christened Esther Teresa). As far as I can tell there were 11 children. Coincidentally, one of the sisters married a Richard Duffy. I suspect he is linked to my great grandmother on the cowan side of the family. I've yet to prove it. If you need the church wedding details for Teresa and Michael or Teresa's baptism details I can give them to you.

Pet50ite 

[paulbduffy]

Hi Pet50ite,
                    Many thanks for the offer on the wedding and birth certs,I have the marraige cert for Teresa Conlon and Michael Woods and I am sure I saw her birth details online,was it 1862?
Did you know they had a baby boy,Patrick in 1897 but he died the following day...In the 1901 census they are living at 26 Summer Place along with her sister Elizabeth and his brother Laurence,my grandfather.What was the name of your greatgrandmother,Teresas sister.I believe Summer Place is now the site of Summerhill bus garage..
                                                       Paul

[pet50ite]

Hi Paul,
I've got theresa's (esther teresa) baptism in 1863. My great grandmother's name was Mary and she was born in 1862, married in 1880 to James Sinnott.
 It sounds like Summer Place was very overcrowded. As Gaffy said, it sounds like there could have been  sanitation issues. That can't have been a good situation to give birth or bring up children.
 Thanks for the info about Summerhill bus garage being on the site of Summer Place. If I get back to Dublin for a visit, I'll have a stroll around the area. Most of my ancestors seem to have lived within a few streets of each other.
Pet50ite